COMMENT-World Bank "doubled" to US$2bn

LONDON, Nov 15 (IFR) - A US$2bn 10yr at MS+21 didn’t seem anything special but is nonetheless viewed now as a “pretty respectable” outcome for IBRD.

Just pipping ADB’s trade from three weeks ago (MS+22), a short window opened up with yields - all-important at the tenor - backing up on Friday and popping higher again into the mandate announcement (even if going on to rally all the way back down through bookbuilding the next day).

Was it, as the press release claims, a doubling of an initial US$1bn offering? Seems unlikely. That size aspiration wasn’t communicated to the market and anyway would have looked strangely unambitious given ADB raised US$1.5bn and Washington peer IADB even more from a US$2.3bn deal back in the summer.

Books closed over US$2.4bn - in the same ballpark as ADB (US$2.2bn+) but somehow enough for leads Barclays, BNPP, Nomura and TD to justify a much meatier deal size. IADB for note fared a lot better, generating US$3.5bn+ of orders.

Those two supra markers were as tight as MS+17.5 and MS+19.5 bid on Eikon pre-mandate with IBRD IPTs next to those at MS+22 area and official guidance in a basis point at MS+21 area the next morning on IoIs of some US$1.3bn.

Most fawning quotes from the press release? Leads on the whole were quite restrained, actually. It was a “very solid benchmark” (BNPP); a “rare and impressive achievement” executed with “great precision” (Barclays); a “world-class outing” from a borrower with an “unparalleled investor following” (Nomura); and a deal that was “timed ... perfectly” (TD).